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Written question asked by James Cleverly (Conservative) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 September 2026. It was answered by Jim McMahon (Labour) on Thursday, 10 September 2026 on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Darlington

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 22 June 2026 to Question 5340 on MHCLG: Darlington, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the ability of the staff assigned to the Darlington campus to attend the office; and what the expected office attendance rate is for (a) junior and (b) senior civil servants assigned to that office.

Answer

The Department keeps its workplace attendance arrangements under regular review and is satisfied that staff assigned to the Darlington campus have adequate access to office accommodation to support required attendance levels. Attendance expectations are applied alongside agreed workplace attendance exceptions where appropriate. Based on the most recent quarter, the attendance target for Darlington was 28%, reflecting the impact of approved exceptions, and actual attendance was 29%, exceeding the target for that period.

The Department's current workplace attendance expectations for Darlington are that Senior Civil Servants spend an average of 60% of their working time in the office, while junior colleagues are expected to spend an average of 40% of their working time in the office.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
20071
Session
2026-27
Related items
Subjects
Staff Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Offices Darlington
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk